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Debate | Jun 08 2004

In fifth grade I participated in a classroom debate. I’ve long since forgotten the topic of the debate or whether my team was for or against it, but I remember that the debate took place before the rest of the class, including Carolyn Kinney, who I was in madly love with then and whose photo I still have, thirty-plus years later.

The other thing I remember is that I didn’t say a thing the entire time. Not a word. I’d spent an entire week studying the subject of the debate, so I knew quite a bit about it, but when the time came to debate, I couldn’t think of anything to say, I froze. I remember telling myself that I had to say something, that I couldn’t just sit there in silence, but that’s what I did.

After class, my teacher Mrs. Staller, who wore an extraordinary amount of make-up, almost like a clown, touched me on the shoulder and said, “Next time.”